ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS
SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 707 - NEW TOWNS AND URBAN AREA DEVELOPMENT
New Territories West Development
Civil Engineering - Land development
299CL - Tsuen Wan Bay further reclamation, area 35, phases I and II

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee -

the upgrading of part of 299CL, entitled " Reprovisioning of Tsuen Wan public cargo working area to Stonecutters Island " , to Category A at an estimated cost of $94.7 million in money-of-the-day prices; and

the retention of the remainder of 299CL in Category B.

PROBLEM

We need to relocate the existing Tsuen Wan public cargo working area (TWPCWA) to Stonecutters Island to settle the traffic and noise problems caused by TWPCWA to the Tsuen Wan town centre and to facilitate the construction of the West Rail (WR) project.

PROPOSAL

2.The Director of Territory Development, with the support of the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, proposes to upgrade part of 299CL to Category A at an estimated cost of $94.7 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices to relocate the existing TWPCWA to Stonecutters Island.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3.The full scope of 299CL comprises -

reclamation of about 31 hectares of land and construction of about 1 500 metres of seawall at Tsuen Wan Bay;

construction of roads and drains with all ancillary works on the reclaimed land;

improvement and upgrading of the existing road network, stormwater drainage system and sewerage system for the development of the reclaimed land;

reprovisioning of the existing Tsuen Wan Dangerous Goods Anchorage with all ancillary works;

reprovisioning of the existing TWPCWA to Stonecutters Island with all ancillary works;

reprovisioning of other marine facilities and marine accesses affected by the reclamation with all ancillary works; and

all associated waterworks and landscaping works.

4.The part of the project we now propose to upgrade to Category A covers the works under paragraph 3(e) above, which comprises the construction of -

approximately 1.7 hectares of concrete pavement together with lighting, fencing, gates and barriers;

a 3-storey administration building, a control kiosk, a 1-storey canteen building with public toilet facilities and a 1-storey transformer building; and

the associated water supply, drainage and other ancillary works.

JUSTIFICATION

5.The existing TWPCWA is located near the centre of Tsuen Wan and is incompatible with the surrounding residential areas. The cargo handling operations in the TWPCWA have caused traffic congestion and noise problems to surrounding areas and affected the residents there.

6.We have planned for the relocation of the TWPCWA to Stonecutters Island. We have designated on the draft Stonecutters Island Outline Development Plan a site on Stonecutters Island as a cargo handling area and completed the reclamation and construction of the seawall at the site. The designated cargo handling area is remote from residential areas. The roads in the area are specially designed for container related uses. The site is currently used by mid-stream operators under Short Term Tenancies (STTs).

7.We need the site of the existing TWPCWA to accommodate the traffic temporarily diverted from Hoi Hing Road during the construction of the cut-and-cover tunnel for the Tsuen Wan town centre section of WR. In addition, the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) will make use of the northern part of the TWPCWA site to set up spoil disposal facilities for the construction of the Tai Lam Tunnel (TLT) of WR. The spoil disposal facilities will provide a barging point to load debris excavated from the construction of the TLT. Upon completion of this section of WR at the end of 2002, KCRC will hand back the existing TWPCWA site to the Government. Based on the preliminary findings of the feasibility study which is under way on the Tsuen Wan Bay Further Reclamation (TWBFR) project, we plan to earmark the existing TWPCWA site for housing development.

8.KCRC plans to commence the construction works of WR alongside Hoi Hing Road in January 1999. To tie in with the WR programme, we need to commence the reprovisioning works in June 1998 for completion in May 1999.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

9.We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $93.9 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 10 below), made up as follows -

$ million

(a)

Civil works

28.0

(i)concrete pavement

25.0

(ii)associated lighting, fencing, gates, barriers, water supply, drainage and other ancillary works

3.0

(b)

Building works

43.0

(i) foundations

6.0

(ii) superstructures

22.0

(iii) building services

15.0

(c)

Contingencies

7.0

Sub-total

78.0

(at December 1996 prices)

(d)

Inflation allowances

16.7

Total

94.7

(in MOD Prices)

10.Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure as follows -

Year

$ million (Dec 1996)

Priceadjustment factor

$ million (MOD)

1998-99

40.0

1.16358

46.5

1999-00

38.0

1.26830

48.2

78.0

94.7

11.We have derived the MOD estimate on the basis of the Government's forecast of trend labour and construction prices over the period between 1998 and 2000. We will tender the works under a fixed-price lump sum contract because we have firm quantities for the majority of the works. The contract will not provide for inflation adjustments as the contract period will not exceed 21 months.

12.The proposed project has no recurrent financial implications.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

13.We consulted the Infrastructure and Container Trade Committee of the Kwai Tsing District Board and the Environmental Affairs Committee of the Tsuen Wan Provisional District Board on 27 February 1997 and 20 August 1997 respectively. Both Committees had no adverse comments on the proposed works. Some members of Kwai Tsing Provisional District Board (PDB) again raised some questions on this project for discussion in the PDB meeting on 11 September 1997. We have answered the questions and members raised no further queries. The Director of Marine has consulted the existing TWPCWA operators on the reprovisioning proposal and they have made no objection.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

14.We completed an Environmental Impact Assessment under 331CL 'site Investigation and Engineering Study for Development of Container Terminal No. 8 " in 1990 which covered the proposed public cargo working area on Stonecutters Island. The study concluded that no adverse environmental impact from the operation of the public cargo working area was expected. We will set out in the works contract the requirement for implementing mitigation measures during the construction period to control dust, noise and site run-off nuisances to within the established standards and guidelines.

LAND ACQUISITION

15.At present, mid-stream operators are using the proposed site at Stonecutters Island under STTs for mid-stream operations. The Director of Lands will terminate the STTs and make the site available for the proposed works at the end of March 1998, when the construction of the adjacent new site for mid-stream operations will have been completed.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

16.We upgraded 299CL " Tsuen Wan Bay further reclamation, area 35, phases I and II " to Category B in December 1991.

17.We commenced an engineering, planning and environmental investigation study for TWBFR in area 35 in June 1995 for completion in December 1997. The consultants undertook the detailed design and site investigation for the civil engineering works of the reprovisioned public cargo working area on Stonecutters Island at a cost of $2.5 million, which was charged to the block allocation Subhead 7100CX " New towns and urban area works, studies and investigations for items in Category D of the Public Works Programme " . The consultants have now completed the detailed design and drawings. The Director of Architectural Services has also completed the detailed design and drawings for the building works of the project using in-house resources. We plan to start works in June 1998 for completion in May 1999.

18.We will consult the Tsuen Wan Provisional District Board on the full findings of the study in early 1998. We plan to implement the remainder of 299CL in stages starting in the year 2000 for overall completion in 2006.

19.The Secretary for Transport gazetted the WR project under the Railways Ordinance for the TLT section and WR (Phase 1) - Urban and Western sections on 25 July and 3 October 1997 respectively.